Kevin Drum has an interesting take on the announcement that the U.S. will pull out new info about Iraqi violations:

Over at RealClear Politics, Tom Bevan writes:

....the United States has announced it will release more evidence on Iraq's WMD programs.

This has all the markings of a set up by the Bush administration. They may not provide a "smoking gun," but you get the sense they have conclusive proof of Iraqi violations they've been holding back on. Biding their time while military preparations take place and the French and Germans make fools of themselves.

The amazing thing here isn't whether this is true or not, it's that Bevan can write this with such obvious approval. When did deliberately setting up your allies in order to make them look foolish become an admirable part of foreign policy?

Generally, it isn't. Thing is, I'm not sure that the Bush administration considers the French or Germans allies anymore. They (hopefully) aren't considered enemies, but the desires and goals of the French and Germans are far away from those that the Bush administration considers important.At the very least, they're competitors.

Then again, with the outright hostility that a lot of American pundits have been showing to both the Germans and the French, maybe the "enemies" tag isn't that far off.